Trump got about $5 billion in free coverage from the media to grease his way to the White House. The payoff was ratings and the attendant ad rate boosts. CBS’s Les Moonves and CNN’s Jeff Zucker crowed about it. Now they’d all like to keep the train rolling, and Trump is obliging with his showy unveiling of the Supreme Court nominee. DON’T WATCH.
Seriously — DON’T WATCH. You already know it’ll be awful; you already know it’ll be jammed through the process by the compliant Republicans; you’ll hear plenty about it once it’s happened. This is theater, misdirection to obscure some other heinous activity. (Somewhere, the shade of Michael Deaver grins.) So there is no need to turn on your TV to give them their payoff. And if you’re reporting to a ratings service? Don’t go NEAR the speech. Watch a cartoon or a basketball game. Or anything else.
The kabuki is amazing. The media is the enemy, the “opposition party,” the “dishonest” target to keep the supporters whipped up — all this after a $5 billion gift from them. Trump and Bannon and their team have played the media completely and are continuing to do so. It will eventually go down as a colossal embarrassment. Yet, all the channels will be there, hoping that you’ll all keep tuning in. And they’ll do that until they start getting starved of their ratings oxygen. Let’s start the starving right now. When the ratings go down, eventually the show gets cancelled.
Pass the word, right now — #DontWatch.